Nowadays – in the post-Dante era – it’s a guess what we will get on a Monday.
This is my first blogging encounter with Sleuth who offered a sound crossword of medium difficulty.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BARNSTAPLE | Plants cultivated in strip in Devon town (10) |
| Anagram [cultivated] of PLANTS inside BARE (strip) | ||
| 7 | PUMA | Find in the morning out of bed retired Argentinian rugby player (4) |
| AM (in the morning) + UP (out of bed), together reversed [retired] This was my first one in, purely from construction. I had to confirm the definition. Like cricket, rugby is not one of my strong points. |
||
| 9 | TAPE | Means of recording mostly feeble light (4) |
| TAPE[r] (feeble light, mostly) | ||
| 10 | CHELSEA BUN | English sailor amid cooked lunches getting something for tea? (7,3) |
| E (English) + AB (sailor), together inside an anagram [cooked] of LUNCHES | ||
| 11 | STRESS | Emphasise symptom of work pressure (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | SET FORTH | Praise group just outside the medal positions, we’re told (3,5) |
| SET (group) + homophone [we’re told] of FOURTH (outside the medal positions) | ||
| 13 | BRUSH OFF | Ignore book and hightail it? (5,3) |
| B (book) + RUSH OFF (hightail it) | ||
| 15 | PLEA | Pretext to cut recreation by 50 per cent (4) |
| PLEASURE (recreation) cut by half | ||
| 17 | SWAP | Exchange airless Wapping houses (4) |
| Hidden answer [houses]: airless Wapping | ||
| 19 | HILARITY | Term at school about it produces merriment (8) |
| HILARY (term at school) arounf IT As far as I know ‘hilary’ is the spring term at Oxford University, so I found ‘school’ a bit odd. But I am happy to learn otherwise. |
||
| 22 | DINOSAUR | A university engaged by work of Rodin’s, a relic from the past? (8) |
| A + U (university), together inside an anagram [work of] of RODIN’S | ||
| 23 | NECTAR | Drink with thanks announced? A delicious drink (6) |
| Homophone [announced] of: NECK (drink) + TA (thanks) | ||
| 25 | DEMOTIVATE | Discourage protest with link about tax (10) |
| DEMO (protest) + TIE (link) around VAT (tax) | ||
| 26 | ECHO | Resounding sound in city house (4) |
| EC (city) + HO (house) Every time when a setter writes ‘city’ instead of ‘the City’ to indicate EC, I object to the false decapitalisation. As I do today. |
||
| 27 | APSE | A pretence, nothing less, in part of church (4) |
| A POSE (a pretence) minus O (nothing) | ||
| 28 | HEMISPHERE | Ambassador with PM is for transforming present section of world (10) |
| HE (ambassador, His Excellency) + anagram [for transforming] of PM IS + HERE (present) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ADAPTOR | What could be suitable behind plug with leads to other receivers? (7) |
| APT (suitable) following AD (plug), then the starting letters [leads] of OTHER RECEIVERS This very nice clue as a whole is the definition, &lit, I assume. |
||
| 3 | NIECE | Family member that is hosted by northern Anglicans (5) |
| IE (that is, id est) inside N (northern) CE (Anglicans, Church of England) | ||
| 4 | TUCK SHOP | Place for fuel frequented by students? (4,4) |
| Cryptic definition Is it? If so, then I’m not impressed. Maybe there’s more to it. |
||
| 5 | PEERS OF THE REALM | Here female sport is played for those with titles? (5,2,3,5) |
| Anagram [is played] of HERE FEMALE SPORT | ||
| 6 | ERSATZ | Fake element among tigers at zoo (6) |
| Hidden answer [element among]: tigers at zoo Some might take ‘element’ as part of the definition. Both options can be justified. |
||
| 7 | PEA-SOUPER | Exercise over after being enveloped by a fantastic fog (3-6) |
| PE (exercise), followed by O (over) inside A SUPER (fantastic) | ||
| 8 | MOUNTIE | Way of working with loose policeman on a prairie? (7) |
| MO (way of working, modus operandi) + UNTIE (loose) | ||
| 14 | SOPHOMORE | US student hopes possibly to accept award by soldiers (9) |
| Anagram [possibly] of HOPES around {OM (award) + OR (soldiers)} New word to me. |
||
| 16 | FLANDERS | Tart before wine recalled by son in Low Country area (8) |
| FLAN (tart) + reversal [recalled] of RED (wine) + S (son) | ||
| 18 | WRITE UP | Report showing western observance on the rise? (5,2) |
| W (western) + RITE (observance) + UP (on the rise) | ||
| 20 | TEACHER | Something brewed by singer that’s instructive type (7) |
| TEA (something brewed) + CHER (singer) | ||
| 21 | VANISH | Gloss right away to fade (6) |
| VARNISH (gloss) minus R (right) | ||
| 24 | CZECH | By the sound of it, restrain language of an East European (5) |
| Homophone [by the sound of it] of CHECK (restrain) | ||
Enjoyed most of this. 4d was the only one I wasn’t too keen on.
I always thought the use of ‘school’ to refer to a University was an Americanism, but Chambers has it with no reference to the US.
Personally, I thought the clue for PLEA was more difficult than it perhaps should have been. PLEA meaning ‘pretext’ isn’t the definition I am familiar with and thinking of an 8 letter word for ‘recreation’ when you only have 2 crossers is, arguably, a bit of a stretch.
Thanks to Sleuth and Sil.
Thanks Sleuth and Sil – mostly straightforward and enjoyable but while SET FORTH (12a) is obviously the correct answer, since when did it mean ‘praise’? Also, while I agree with TAPE for 9a at one point I was toying with PALE(TTE) instead with ‘feeble light’ as the definition.
Steve @2, ‘set forth’ meaning ‘to praise’ is in both Chambers (def.#3) and the SOED (def.#f).
I just assumed it was right but, as a non-Brit, I’ve never heard anyone using ‘set forth’ this way.
Thanks to Sleuth and Sil. I enjoyed this puzzle but had difficulty with parts of it. As a US solver I had no trouble with SOPHOMORE, had come across HILARY term somewhere (a novel?), and knew the PUMAs from a previous puzzle, but I had to guess at TUCK SHOP, did not parse NECTAR (I did not know neck = drink), and took a long time spotting MOUNTIE so that PLEAsure was my LOI.
Thanks for the blog, Sil.
I started off in the NE quadrant, and just gave up after seeing how awful 4dn & 9ac were!
Are you grumpy?
Yes, I’m Grumpy, Sil.
Thanks Sleuth and Sil
An enjoyable enough crossword that I was able to finish during a shortish lunch break. Originally thought that 4d was very weak too – but given ‘fuel’ is defined as food and a TUCK SHOP is a place that sells food, typically in a school, then I guess it passes muster – can see why some wouldn’t like it though! Like Steve, I had more grief trying to justify that definition of SET FORTH.
Finished in the SW corner with DINOSAUR and VANISH as the last couple in.
Maybe i’m Grumpy because 40 years ago I didn’t go to a school which had a Hilary Term and a Tuck Shop selling Chelsea Buns…
Was that in Barnstaple? Or in Flanders? Or are you Czech, perhaps?